Customer Reviews

El monte

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If your looking for a book on the afro-cuban religions, this is possibly the best one written. Cuban anthropologist Lydia Cabrera has written one of the best books on the subject. She discusses the myths, rituals and history of the religions derived from the congo and from the yoruba people who were brought as slaves into Cuba. In addition, Cabrera's text has a mamomth dictionary of various herbs, fruits, and vegetables, explaining who their spiritual owner is in addition to what the item can be used for. Cabrera also discusses the secret society of the Nanigos. It's a shame that this text has yet to be translated into English as it deserves to have a wider audience. Nonetheless, if you can read in spanish and are interested in this subject, this is definately a book to buy!

Lydia's books are all very nice when it comes to the explanation of things and their history.
As a notice to the readers of Afro-Cuban Religion books;
Take the readings only as theory since the practice varies greatly amongst the branches of the religions. You have to be iniciated in, Palo, Santo, Ifa, or Abakua to learn the real secrets, so don't expect to read them on a book. Some of the authors present you with too much information, like actual rituals and the making of talismans...Don't do it, as it is disrespectful to the dieties, and to the practioners, not to mentention the bad consecuences which your curiosity might bring upon you.
So read on for educational purposes and don't allow your curiosity to get you in trouble :) .
I also recomend any of the books by Natalia Bolívar Aróstegui, an excellent writer in the field and having met her in person I can tell you that she's very dedicated.

I have this book in Spanish and found it very useful but you must have notions of youruba languag or you will get lost in the text.

Para quien quiera adentrarse dentro del mundo m?gico de la santer?a no hay nada mejor como leerse este libro. Es de aquellas obras que te atrapan desde las primeras p?ginas y no te dejan libre hasta despu?s de muchas d?cadas de lectura.
Quien quiera saber c?mo funciona la santer?a en Cuba deber? leerse este libro. No deja de ser actual. La santer?a est? hecha de sincretismos y Lydia Cabrera nos explica c?mo funciona este proceso.

I CAN HONESTLY SAY THAT I WAS VERY DELIGHTED AND SHOCK TO SEE HOW FAST THE BOOK ARRIVED. WHEN I OPENED THE FRONT DOOR OF MY HOUSE 2 DAYS AFTER I ORDERED AND I SEE THE BOOK WAITING FOR ME, I LOOKED LIKE A CHILD WHEN YOU GIVE THEM A CANDY. LOL SMH THE BOOK WAS IN VERY MINT CONDITIONS. I WANT TO SAY TY FOR SENDING THE BOOK SO FAST.

Lydia Cabrera's book is a very informative book.I also own the 3 books on the subject that she has written. As a practioner you can always look back and read a little bit just to widen the spectrum on opinion from a different person ( or from different branch) It;s a great book I would recommend it to anyone who speaks/reads spanish fluently who is interested on the subject of Magico/afro/religeous systems.